The American special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on August 6. Shortly after, he told Donald Trump that Putin was ready to make major dealerships in Ukraine, in particular by removing partially occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, reported Reuters. Trump praised the meeting as “great progress” and agreed to hold a historic summit with Putin, suggesting that a land swap agreement was being discussed.
How did confusion started?
On August 7, Witkoff told European leaders that Putin was willing to abandon Kherson and Zaporizhzhia if Ukraine put Donetsk and Luhansk. This shocked the American and European officials, who said that this did not correspond to their own assessments of Putin’s position. The next day, Witkoff gave a different version. In a call led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said Putin did not in fact propose to leave Kherson or Zaporizhzhia. Instead, Putin had only pointed out that he would not push the West to recognize them as Russian.
Why did he raise the eyebrows?
Witkoff is a real estate developer without diplomatic experience. According to the Reuters report, he also broke the protocol by attending the Moscow meeting without a notice from the State Department, leaving no official file of what Putin really offered. He has already been criticized for repeating pro-Russian discussion points and has recently been accused of lobbying to facilitate American energy sanctions in Moscow.
Trump’s push for an agreement between Russia and Ukraine
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has promised a rapid peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. He has repeatedly suggested that the two parties may need to “exchange” land, a position that worried kyiv and Europe. Speaking before its summit in Alaska, Trump said that his goal was to get a cease-fire, adding: “Look, Russia is very great power, and they (Ukraine) are not. But despite the” productive “conferences, Trump admitted that he and Putin do not agree on key questions.
Where are things now?
Russia has not shown no sign of compromise. Instead, he launched new missiles and drone attacks across Ukraine, including one of kyiv’s largest strikes since the start of the war. Putin continues to demand that Ukraine lower its NATO ambitions and withdraw from occupied regions, while keeping control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
